Devanagari
यदि स्युर्बहवो लोके शास्तारो दण्डधारिण: ।
कस्य स्यातां न वा कस्य मृत्युश्चामृतमेव वा ॥ ५ ॥
Verse text
yadi syur bahavo loke
śāstāro daṇḍa-dhāriṇaḥ
kasya syātāṁ na vā kasya
mṛtyuś cāmṛtam eva vā
Synonyms
yadi
—
if
;
syuḥ
—
there are
;
bahavaḥ
—
many
;
loke
—
in this world
;
śāstāraḥ
—
rulers or controllers
;
daṇḍa
—
dhāriṇaḥ — who punish the sinful men
;
kasya
—
of whom
;
syātām
—
there may be
;
na
—
not
;
vā
—
or
;
kasya
—
of whom
;
mṛtyuḥ
—
distress or unhappiness
;
ca
—
and
;
amṛtam
—
happiness
;
eva
—
certainly
;
vā
—
or .
Translation
If in this universe there are many rulers and justices who disagree about punishment and reward, their contradictory actions will neutralize each other, and no one will be punished or rewarded. Otherwise, if their contradictory acts fail to neutralize each other, everyone will have to be both punished and rewarded.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
If there are many controllers who will carry out the punishment, then who will award results for sin and piety and who will not?
“If there are many controllers, what is the problem?” There are two results for action: hell (mṛtyuḥ) and heaven (amṛtam). Among all the rulers who desire to give these two results, which one will award these results? If there is disagreement, then no one will award results (since opposite results must be awarded). If somehow there is agreement, there will be no question of who awards the results, but all will award results since they are all in agreement. But then again there is a problem (since the award cannot be given many times).
Purport
Because the Yamadūtas had been unsuccessful in carrying out the order of Yamarāja, they doubted whether Yamarāja actually had the power to punish the sinful. Although they had gone to arrest Ajāmila, following Yamarāja’s order, they found themselves unsuccessful because of the order of some higher authority. Therefore they were unsure of whether there were many authorities or only one. If there were many authorities who gave different judgments, which could be contradictory, a person might be wrongly punished or wrongly rewarded, or he might be neither punished nor rewarded. According to our experience in the material world, a person punished in one court may appeal to another. Thus the same man may be either punished or rewarded according to different judgments. However, in the law of nature or the court of the Supreme Personality of Godhead there cannot be such contradictory judgments. The judges and their judgments must be perfect and free from contradictions. Actually the position of Yamarāja was very awkward in the case of Ajāmila because the Yamadūtas were right in attempting to arrest Ajāmila, but the Viṣṇudūtas had baffled them. Although Yamarāja, under these circumstances, was accused by both the Viṣṇudūtas and the Yamadūtas, he is perfect in administering justice because he is empowered by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Therefore he will explain what his real position is and how everyone is controlled by the supreme controller, the Personality of Godhead.